2022 Women in Construction: Suzanne Marie Musho, New York Institute of Technology

Name: Suzanne Marie Musho, AIA, NCARB

Title: VP Real Estate Development and Sustainable Capital Planning, Chief Architect

Company Name: New York Institute of Technology

What was your greatest professional achievement or most notable project in the last 12 months?
My most notable projects in the last 12 months include the projects that created amazing learning environments with the students of New York Tech, and also involved the students in the design. These include the interfaith prayer and meditation rooms on both NY campuses. Another project we are excited about is our New Serota Amphitheatre and Healing Pond. This project creates a new student-centered outdoor area for seating adjacent to our campus pond with healing flora and fauna. We are also proud of the newly renovated Anna Rubin Hall which is a classroom building with new ventilation, student study rooms, experimental classroom layouts, and will soon have a new photovoltaic solar array. Sustainability is a major focus for our students, and we are happy to start meeting those goals!

Why should women consider a career in construction?
There is no other profession in the world like architecture and the world of design. Architecture allows you to explore being creative, analytical, relational, and to drench yourself in history while imagining the future. Architecture is a great profession to see the world, too. It is such a gift! I am always grateful for the profession and the opportunities I have every day to learn something new and do something exciting.

Starting out in the construction business, who empowered you?
I’ve had so many mentors throughout the years. My mother, Sally Musho, was a watercolorist and designer, and my father, Ted Musho, is an architect. My father continues to give me fantastic advice about how to navigate my career within the architecture profession. Bob Shibley, the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Buffalo was on my thesis committee, and I now serve on his Dean’s Council. I also have been fortunate to work with great women architects, and I learn from them every day: Maddy Burke-Vigeland, and Jeanne Gang are two architects I truly admire. I do think that having these advisors have allowed me to empower myself and believe that I can make dreams happen. I wish that for that for everyone!

What advice would you offer to other women getting into the construction industry?
Know what you want to do and be willing to discover your path in different forms. Stay as openminded as possible, and keep your friends, and those you’ve really enjoyed working with, close to you throughout your career. Architecture is about picking up the phone, or texting, and you need to have somebody on the other end you can trust. And believe in yourself. Don’t let anyone deter you!